Nurtured by compassion and empowerment, the restoration of hope and renewal are all that’s to be harvested for hurricane relief in Jamaica by the Seeds of Manna nonprofit organization at the launch of Houses Built By Faith—the inspiring first publication of South Florida’s noted attorney Kaysia Earley.
The launch, on December 13 at 11 a.m. at the Marriott Convention Centre, Parkland, Coral Springs, supports the faith-based charity established just months before the hurricane to structure the tireless efforts and resolve of founder Earley. For years, she remained steadfast in helping challenged families in Lilliput, Montego Bay, and the church community of God’s Way Assembly from her personal funds and proceeds from her law firm. Establishing the charity proved timely with the unimaginable devastation from Hurricane Melissa, which led to the church being completely destroyed and many residents in urgent need of food, shelter, and basic necessities.
No stranger to what is extremely traumatic, Earley uses the subtitle of the book—Jail House. God’s House. Court House.—as a graphic chronicle of her personal and professional journey. She shares how she was once at rock bottom. “I was homeless,” she says, “living with all my things in storage—and then I lost everything, lost it all… and got it back. No matter what happens, you must keep the faith. Have faith that days will get better—and believe things will work together for your good.”
This uncanny journey of hers is the story of an indefatigable spirit. With the traits of a phoenix, she has kept rising. “What could be worse than being in jail, solitary confinement, pregnant and out of wedlock?” There was nowhere else to go but up for this determined and driven middle child of seven who found Christ and defied the odds to become the successful lawyer she was told she couldn’t be.
Of Jamaican parentage, her eyes were set on “yard,” given how she was socialized—and rooted. The bond strengthened when she and her husband, David Earley, of 21 years, began traveling to Jamaica—making friends with workers at the resort before being taken into their homes and lives at Lilliput. Marginalized and barely managing, Mrs. Earley, the professed shopper, started shipping provisions and clothing to the island in 2020 for these friends and their families. A child of Christian fellowship, it became her ministry—outreach completed by engaging and embracing the church, God’s Way Assembly, which was close to the home of Ilyann Salmon, who, along with her husband Wayne, were now cornerstones of the Earleys’ charitable operations.
Kaysia Earley, community advocate, remains stirred and steered by social concerns… and the livelihood and welfare of the average Jamaican household is a particular focus. The disparity, she contends, is disturbing. “There are so many people working so hard and are unable to make ends meet—living in communities of unpaved and unkept roads right across from major resorts. Such investments in Jamaica should require that these business operators have a stake in communities within a certain radius… especially if you’re taking up coastal areas that, as a consequence, render beaches inaccessible to community residents—beaches they may only enjoy if they’re provided with a day pass.”
The Earleys have a home in Trelawny, employing friends and members of the charity for maintenance—individuals who previously worked at the resorts. They are committed to assisting these persons in improving their skill sets. “What’s being planted by Seeds of Manna,” she advises, “is self-sufficiency. The rebuilding exercise is bigger than barrels. Having all this knowledge as an attorney, a judicial candidate, and an entrepreneur since owning and operating my own law firm for 11 years, I want to hold workshops in Jamaica to teach business skills.” She plans to buy and remodel containers as salons for young ladies—budding hairdressers—so they can move out of their homes. “People are to be taught how to fish beyond having fish provided for them.”
She’s fixed, she’s focused—and the launch on Saturday, December 13, of her first publication, Houses Built By Faith, to also support her charity, Seeds of Manna, is about her very purpose.
It’s all that’s firmly planted.
